On one level, the launch of Nexon’s blockchain-enabled MMORPG MapleStory N – the first element of its MapleStory Universe – has been a great success.
But that’s not to say that the launch has been perfect.
Notably, issues include players and automated bot accounts either directly hacking the game or just using macros to speed up in-game progression.
Of course, this sort of activity has a direct impact on genuine players but in the case of a blockchain game it could also affect the in-game economy by overly inflating the number of NFTs created, as well as potentially enabling accounts to mint highly valuable items, without properly playing the game.
Nexon says that because minting requires spending in-game NXPC token, it hasn’t seen examples of illegal accounts making money from this activity. Indeed, it says bot accounts are having to spend more value than they can currently generate.
But it is stepping up both its communication with players over such problems as well as ramping its engineering efforts to stop this behavior. It’s also implemented a 30-hour delay in wallets cashing out assets.
One key issue has been that while Nexon has been regularly banning thousands of accounts every day, these players just create new accounts and continue to do whatever they were doing before they were banned.
One key way Nexon hopes to crack down on this is that it’s going to roll out what it calls its Credit Level, which it hopes will “stop repeat offenders at the source, keep normal players totally unaffected and reduce abuse before it even begins”.
In addition, it’s improving its detection and enforcement techniques including running skill validation logic, and checking timing anomalies, login behavior and how accounts use in-game currency and the marketplace.
Nevertheless, Nexon concedes that although it expects to get smarter and faster at detecting and banning accounts, there’s isn’t a one-time fix, adding “It’s an ongoing fight, and we’re in it for the long haul”.
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